The history of Georgia as a state extends along with a number of independent kingdoms in Caucasus Mountains that eventually united, forming an independent state of Georgia. Like the others, Georgia also made use of the colors white and cherry (carnelian) red as well as blacks for their flags. The banners mostly were carried by military forces or used by royalty in absence of modern national flags.
History states that queen Tamara, or Tamar (1184-1213) who was the most famous ruler in Georgian history, used a traditional white flag with a dark red cross and a star. But, these flags were suppressed by Russia in 1801 when they annexed Georgia. After World War I, on May 26, 1918, an independent Georgian Democratic Republic was proclaimed. The national flag by Jakob Nikoladze, was then hoisted on March 25, 1917 and displayed until the crushing of Georgian independence in 1921 by the Soviet union. The flag had cherry red with canton of black and white stripes. By the time, cherry red was made significant at flags as national color along with black color as a symbol of past tragedies and whites as hope.
The history of Georgian flag extends further from adoption of Georgian flag on April 11, 1951 under Soviet regime to re-adoption of 1918-1921 flag on November 14,1990 followed by independence on April 9, 1991. The background of the flag was red and its canton was blue with red rays surrounding a red hammer, sickle and star as well as from the canton a blue horizontal stripe extended to the end of the flag. The white flag with five red crosses was used first in the 14th century which was voted national flag in 1999 but the then President Eduard Shevardnadze did not sign the bill. The flag was finally adopted on January 14, 2004 after the establishment of a new government.
